Britsol Town Administrator Steve Contente

As things stand today, property tax bills will be increasing 3.35 percent and the sewer use fee will be increasing 2.2 percent next year in Bristol. The new tax rate and sewer use fee are not final until the Bristol Town Council holds a public hearing later this month, but that’s the preliminary plan after the council and town administrator wrapped up a series of budget workshops over the last few weeks.

The plan calls for an overall increase of nearly $2.1 million in annual spending, or 3.8 percent. Half of that (about $1 million) goes to the public schools. The rest of the big increases are:

• $343,651 increase (10%) for principal and interest on debt (much of it to pay back a deficit in school funding from 2016);
• $190,584 increase (11%) in employee and retiree benefits costs (Blue Cross, etc.);
• $298,224 increase (5.4%) for the sewer department;
• $96,516 increase (17%) for Parks and Rec. Dept. salaries, benefits and additional programming;
• $37,896 increase (6.6%) for Rogers Free Library staffing.

Town leaders worked to offset the big increases by keep things level in many other areas. The town’s police and fire departments would each increase spending by about 1 percent, while the public works, town clerk, town treasurer and other departments are planning to spend the same, or in some cases, slightly less, than they did this year.

Many of the increases in town spending are tied to specific changes in staffing.

Rogers Free Library

At Rogers Free Library, the additional money would pay for the library to open on Sundays throughout the year. The Friends of Rogers Free Library and the town struck a deal, where the town will pay half the cost to open the library on Sundays, if the Friends raise the other half.

Parks and Recreation Department expenses are increasing mostly because the town created a new position and hired a coordinator of senior services, who works in that department. The department has also greatly expanded its programming, which Town Administrator Steve Contente is pleased to see.
“The community center is much more active than it used to be, which is a good thing,” Mr. Contente said. He added that parks and rec. revenues have increased as well.

Sewer department

Sewer department costs are rising nearly $300,000 because the town must continue to upgrade its treatment plant and sewer lines. Mr. Contente said Bristol is a frequent violator of state and federal standards, and these upgrades are federally mandated.
“We’ve had 31 instances of violations, including fecal coliform contamination,” he said. “We’re under a consent order from the EPA to make improvements. We have to continue to invest in our infrastructure.”

Senior center

The town also made a significant shift in how it funds the senior center, which is under the umbrella of the nonprofit Benjamin Church Senior Center. Instead of being funded like it is its own department within the town, the senior center has been moved into the area of the budget dedicated to outside groups and organizations, like the Women’s Resource Center, Bristol Historical and Preservation Society, and others.

School funding debt

A major factor in the town’s increasing debt payments is a long-term legal battle between the towns of Bristol and Warren over school funding, which Bristol lost. After the court ruled in Warren’s favor, Bristol had to quickly fork over $1.4 million. The town borrowed the money and is paying it back for about $200,000 per year.

A challenging year

Mr. Contente said he wishes the news was better, but they faced a tough situation. “This was a difficult year. We’re trying to help the school department get through their reduction in state aid,” he said. “When you look at our tax increase, the majority of it goes toward the schools. But I don’t regret that. We had to do that. The alternative would be what we all heard during the Joint Finance Committee process. It would be laying off teachers and eliminating programs. We know we need to support our school district.”

He proudly said that if the schools weren’t losing money from the state, and if the town didn’t have to cough up that $1.4 million a couple of years ago, the rest of the town’s budget would be increasing only slightly. “The increase in the tax rate would be about where we were last year, when it went up 13 cents,” Mr. Contente said.

A year ago, the property tax rate increased from $14.77/$1,000 of valuation, to $14.92/$1,000. Under the proposed budget, it would increase 50 cents, to $15.42.

The Bristol Town Council will host a public workshop on the budget on Monday, April 23. It begins at 7 p.m.